I have to say, primitive throwback articulation aside, the new $5.99 Saga Legends Stormtrooper due in a later wave actually looks really, really good for an action figure that comes armed with 1995 joints and a 1996 pricepoint.

The Artoo is a tad too small compared to the other 6" characters and doesn't look quite right, but aside from understandable scale issues and nitpicks he looks great and comes with quite a few plug-in tools and accessories for his dome and hatches.

Ghostbusters Ecto 1 is coming in 6" Scale if they get enough pre-orders for it. Will have lights and sounds, opening trunk, rolls, detailed to the max. $215 by pre-order. If the pre-orders go through you will be able to get a Perter and Ray 6" 2-pack with removable packs that will fit in the car.

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$215?! Oh well. At least I got a brief moment of excitement out of it.

Mattel's pricing is outlandish sometimes. I would love to have gotten my hands on that Ecto-1 but that is just waaaaaay out of my price range. I also felt the same way about the Masters of the Universe Castle Grey Skull. Loved the idea and the sculpt but I just couldn't afford to blow almost three hundred bucks on a toy. At almost thirty dollars, I can't really afford the MOTU action figure either!

^ Yep, they've charged $20 for the Ghostbusters figures, which seems a bit steep considering the size. You could easily have gotten a new Star Trek or Stargate figure by Diamond Select for $15 or $16, and they are a bit bigger.

Yeah, Mattel has a philosophy of charging collectors whatever the hell they feel like. It's greed and hubris, plain and simple.

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I don't collect Mattel and the last time I bought or had anything given to me from the company was a long, long time ago in a toy era far, far away, but the modern company seems like it makes Hasbro look like Sideshow Collectibles by comparison. For all the irritating little problems and issues that the Big H demonstrates on a fairly regular basis these days they don't seem as annoying, greedy and shoddy with the quality as Mattel does.

Yeah, Mattel has a philosophy of charging collectors whatever the hell they feel like. It's greed and hubris, plain and simple.

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I don't collect Mattel and the last time I bought or had anything given to me from the company was a long, long time ago in a toy era far, far away, but the modern company seems like it makes Hasbro look like Sideshow Collectibles by comparison. For all the irritating little problems and issues that the Big H demonstrates on a fairly regular basis these days they don't seem as annoying, greedy and shoddy with the quality as Mattel does.

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Agreed. Mattel often demonstrates incredibly greed, and an utter contempt for their customers. Their PR department will outright lie to us on a regular basis. The SDCC exclusive Shazam is a great example of this. We were told it was chosen as an exclusive, despite being perfect for retail release, because it was a figure that would be enjoyed by both sub an retail collectors and could help bridge the gap. That was clearly utter bullshit, since they just announced that the retail DC line is over. Shazam is the SDCC exclusive because it's a leftover from the retail line, and they just shoehorned it in here. I can't get past how they psyched everyone up by saying that DC collectors should be excited for some big announcements at SDCC. Excited? We should be excited to learn of the death of our beloved line? We should be excited to see it replaced by a new line with an inferior style, and reduced articulation? Go fuck yourself Mattel.

Despite all that, DC Universe Classics/Unlimited is still the greatest and most complete DC line ever made, or ever likely to be made in the foreseeable future. I'm still planning to subscribe to Club Infinite Earths next year, as that is now the only way that I'll be able to get more figures from this line.

Thank god for great companies like NECA, huh? Pacific Rim is now one of my absolute favorite movies, and this is going to be very hard to resist:

Agreed about NECA. They just keep knocking it out of the park with some truly beautiful stuff. (I am still totally blown away by their Nightmare Before Christmas line... which sits on the shelves in a very prominent place just to the left of my desk.)

Did anyone see the late addition of Obi Wan to the Hasbro display? It would seem he is supposed to be in wave 3 of the 6″ Star Wars Black line. Awesome! Link!

I'm hoping the Hasbro team has some cool reveals in store for Celebration Europe II next week and that one of them is the very first look at the upcoming Darth Plagueis figure in the 3.75" Black Series, but who knows. People in the know have been saying that Hasbro's Star Wars content at Comic-Con's been comparatively weak this year because they're deliberately holding back on some stuff for the Lucas-themed, Star Wars-specific Celebration Europe bash.